Saskatoon plastics finding markets despite global issues

Some items that were considered on Monday by city council’s environment, utilities and corporate services committee:

PLASTIC PAYS

Plastics collected by the City of Saskatoon’s curbside recycling program are finding their way to global markets despite challenges, a city hall official says.

Russ Munro, the city’s director of water and waste services, told the committee some of the plastics affected by market conditions are being stockpiled until the markets recover.

In response to an inquiry from The StarPhoenix, Munro later corrected himself; he said the plastics are not currently being stockpiled.

Munro told the committee many communities are removing the plastics, known as plastics three to seven in recycling jargon, from the acceptable items for recycling. By weight, these types of plastics account for 1.5 per cent of the material collected by Saskatoon’s recycling program.

“We aren’t trying to trick people,” Coun. Hilary Gough said.

Later this month, council will consider a new contract for curbside recycling for single-family homes. At that point, council could decide to remove some plastics, as well as glass, from the acceptable items for recycling.

The committee endorsed keeping the program the same, although the monthly cost is expected to rise from $5.66 to between $7 and $7.50. The price increase is also attributed to international recycling markets.

The city’s seven-year contract with Loraas expires at the end of the year. City hall is negotiating with an unnamed company for the next contract, which is expected to cover seven or eight years with the possibility of an extension to 10 years.

BIG FREEZE

City of Saskatoon staff need to do some detective work to try to figure out why the water pipes to some properties have frozen multiple times over the last decade.

This year marked the second highest number of frozen water connections this decade as the frost reached 2.4 metres beneath the ground.

Residents suffered 271 frozen water connections, more than triple the number in 2018 and second only to 289 in 2014. In 2010 and 2012, there were only two frozen pipes each year.

The high number of frozen connections this year is linked to the sustained cold in February. Using data that dates back to 2009, the city has identified 45 locations where multiple frozen lines have occurred.

Five properties have experienced frozen pipes four times and another 29 have endured frozen pipes three times.

The pipes need to be excavated to determine if solutions like better insulation or deeper pipes will solve the issue.

The investigation is expected to cost $500,000 and the administration recommends using money from a reserve fund. The city spent $387,000 dealing with frozen water connections this year.

The committee endorsed the project, but council needs to approve it.

RESTORING TREES

It costs the city more to plant a tree and water it for three years than it does to remove one, the committee heard.

The city has removed more than twice as many black ash trees as it has replanted in response to the cottony ash psyllid, according to a city report.

The tiny insect kills black ash trees; 1,782 trees have been removed since 2015, the report says. In response, 728 trees of various species have been replanted.

By year’s end, another 1,954 ash trees are expected to removed, leaving another 1,000 that will need to be removed next year. In total, the minuscule pest will have claimed 4,736 trees.

Replanting efforts are not expected to keep pace — a proposed schedule suggests replanted trees will not come close to 4,000 until 2024.

The cost of removing and replanting trees is estimated at $490,000 for each of the next two years. City hall needs to find $340,000 for each year to meet the proposed replanting schedule.

City council will consider using money from a reserve fund to make up the difference, as part of deliberations on the city’s first two-year budget to cover 2020 and 2021. A list of different initiatives will compete for the same pool of funding.

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